How/where/when/why was ISBNPA started (2000-5)? Divergent perspectives from the progenitors

Authors

Tom Baranowski, PhD, Distinguished Emeritus Professor, Baylor College of Medicine
Ronald Kleinman, MD, Charles Wilder Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School 
Theresa Nicklas, DrPH, Distinguished Emeritus Professor, Baylor College of Medicine
Wayne Miller, PhD, Provost and Acting President, Pacific Northwest U of Health Sciences 
David Crawford, PhD, Deakin Distinguished Emeritus Professor, Deakin U
Gaston Godin, PhD, Emeritus Professor, U Laval
Monique Raats, PhD, Professor, U Surrey
Wendy Rodgers, PhD, President, University of Prince Edward Island

Abstract

The International Society for Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity (ISBNPA) started as an idea for discussion in 1999, or so. A small number of professionals responded to an email asking for volunteers to consider starting a society. Diverse perspectives existed among the initial responders, but good will reigned through monthly phone calls discussing the future of the society. After almost 2 years of deliberations, the first professional meeting was held in 2002 in Seattle. The following 2 years saw meetings held in Quebec City and Washington DC. After the third meeting, it was clear there was a future for ISBNPA.

Background

The advent of the new millennium in 2000 brought reconsideration of many old paradigms and consideration of new solutions. The International Society for Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity (ISBNPA), an international multidisciplinary professional society, was initiated that same year. ISBNPA, through its members, shares knowledge and develops collegial relationships in regard to research and policy on behavioral aspects of nutrition and physical activity. This paper describes how ISBNPA was started by reporting in brief some of the divergent perspectives of the people initially involved in forming the society. 

Knowing how a professional organization was started could simply be a one-off which may be of some interest for subsequent leaders and members of the society. We know of no literature on how other professional organizations were started, and so we have no comparisons to shed light on what happened with starting ISBNPA. Future initiators of a new society, however, may appreciate insights into others’ considerations and processes for starting a society.

In 1999-2000, where behavioral scientists interested in diet and physical activity should and could meet professionally was not clear. At the time research on nutrition or diet and physical activity as behaviors was generally related to the many aspects of heart disease, obesity and infant feeding. It was clear at that time that both nutrition or diet and physical activity were involved in all the health issues of interest and there could be a benefit from combining or even inter-relating those issues. Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity was increasingly the focus of research in Europe, Australia, Hong Kong, and elsewhere, and did not quite fit into the existing societies which either had a more physiological/biological emphasis or were meeting the needs of professionals with other interests. Thus, the issues and concerns of those internationally interested in behavioral issues in nutrition and physical activity (separately or combined) were not adequately addressed. (The word nutrition is meant to encompass the meaning of diet, or food intake.)

Tom Baranowski discussed these concerns with several people in person and at professional meetings. With affirmation of their interest, Tom distributed an email through all the channels he knew (mostly emails directed to people in his address book) and asked them to circulate it among their colleagues likely to be interested. (At the time, emails were a relatively new means of communication.) A small number of colleagues responded. This group had diverse credentials and interests in nutrition and physical activity as behaviors, were from many countries and disciplines, and were interested in helping start a  new society.

Courtesy of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Tom was able to arrange and pay for long distance telephone calls for a monthly meeting of these responders. (Video conferencing through platforms like Skype or Zoom didn’t come into being for a few more years.) The calls were well received, even though they occurred at odd hours for some of the group – but that would also be true of the technologies available now.  What was novel was indeed the truly international inclusion from the very beginning. 

 

In the early meetings the team shared their ideas for a new society and quickly named officers:

  • President: Tom Baranowski, PhD; Professor of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine
  • Vice President: Ronald Kleinman, MD; Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School 
  • Secretary: Theresa Nicklas, DrPH; Professor of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine
  • Treasurer: Wayne Miller, PhD; Associate Professor of Exercise Physiology, George Washington U 

Executive Committee Members:

  • Deborah Bowen, PhD; Professor of Behavioral Science, U Washington and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
  • David Crawford, PhD; Professor of Behavioral Science, Deakin U
  • Gaston Godin, PhD; Professor of Community Health, Laval U
  • Monique Raats, PhD; Senior Research Fellow, U Surrey
  • Wendy Rodgers, PhD; Associate Professor of Physical Education & Recreation, U Alberta
  • Michael Sjostrom, MD, PhD; Associate Professor, Karolinska Institute

To address a need to incorporate and be recognized for tax and contract purposes, ISBNPA incorporated in the State of Texas (May 20, 2002) with reincorporation in 2006.  

It took a couple of years of telephone discussions to work out the name and purposes of the society, what should be initially included in membership (e.g. an annual meeting), and how the first meeting should be structured and run.

The Treasurer had a particularly challenging position. Wayne Miller wrote: “ I had to set up our international bank account, which wasn’t an easy job.  Zelle didn’t exist.  We didn’t have companies that did international fund transfers, as we do today, such as Sharemoney. So we had to get a bank account that worked internationally, and could accept any form of currency.”

Method

Tom asked (in 2024) the original responders to share their thoughts about the earliest days of the Society (2000-5). Different initiators remembered different aspects, often in very different ways, but combined they form a picture of how the Society took shape. To give full weight to each person’s perspective, the responses are summarized here, retaining discrepancies representing the discussions of the time. 

Results

The first question posed was: 

What were your thoughts when you first got an email from Tom Baranowski (in 2000) soliciting your participation in starting a new society for behavioral nutritionists and physical activity?

Collectively, the group was impressed with the idea, referring to it as timely, brilliant, and a “big hairy audacious goal (BHAG).” A few members were surprised, and all were honoured to be invited by Tom, Gaston, and others who were leaders in the area at the time. Everyone was excited about the idea of bringing a behavioural focus to the study and discussion of nutrition and physical activity. Everyone felt professional societies were too exclusively focused on physiology and basic nutritional sciences, and not enough on the behavioural aspects of nutrition and exercise. Behavioural health at the time was overly focused on addictive behaviours, rather than health enhancing behaviours.  Ron Kleinman indicated it was “an outstanding opportunity to meet a whole new set of colleagues interested in how behaviours affect health”; Theresa Nicklas was already expanding her research across these behaviours “and an opportunity to bring BN and BPA scholars into the same room.”  Wayne Miller, who was working in obesity in a school of public health, said “I asked why none of the MPH students didn’t need to take any coursework in exercise or nutrition. They couldn’t give me an answer. Therefore, when your (Tom’s) idea first came up, I finally felt someone was listening.” Monique Raats was keen to grow a global network and saw the potential of the society to do this.  Wendy Rodgers was excited “to bring these areas together in a coordinated way, focused on research and application of complex behavioural issues.”

Why did you think such a society might be valuable? 

The group joined in to create the society because they all clearly saw its value. Ron K observed that in medicine, the work was done in silos; “this new society offered a thematic approach to questions that were fundamental to medicine, biology, physiology, and psychology. In short an opportunity to learn and exchange ideas and data across disciplines … and to advance our understanding of how behaviours … determine health outcomes.” Wayne M. observed that “existing societies were not ready to bring exercise and eating behaviours into their fold.” Gaston G observed that “… interventions … were realized without reference to behavioural theories. As such the field was not making necessary progress. I began to look to the European societies and work with scholars from the Netherlands and the UK. Your invitation was an opportunity for me to get involved in the development of an organization promoting what I was considering the type of research in health promotion that … is based on understanding motivations underlying behaviours.” Monique R felt that there was “no distinct society I could call ‘home’,” due to the lack of integration of basic and behavioural science.  Wendy R observed that “exercise science, at the time, was strongly focused on physiology and physiological outcomes, that could not be achieved without behavioural and motivational considerations.” 

What were your other considerations in agreeing to participate?

All the members had observed a gap in both the published literature and in the societies discussing the focal behaviours.  They were all interested in the coordinated approach, with the behavioural and applied focus, and the opportunity to better understand determinants of health. They were also excited to create a truly international society where the research approaches across continents could come together.  None-the-less, the group had trepidations about the amount of work, and how long it would take. Each came from only one of the components of the society, but hoped to make a contribution to the whole, and were simultaneously excited and a bit intimidated by the opportunity to discuss the idea with the diversity of scholars brought together. Each member did what they could, devoted the time to the group calls and to the necessary tasks to get the first conference underway.

Any thoughts about the name of the society?

The group recalled struggling over the name of the society as it seemed impossible to achieve anything concise that still represented the purpose and the complexity of the society. Not everyone loved the name – but it stuck and is now internationally recognized.  Ron K recalls (and others agreed) “the full name that we agreed on was a real mouth-full that (we feared) we would never remember. Once we got used to it, its acronym “isbinpah” just rolled off the tongue”.  Wayne recalls “We knew we couldn’t change the name later, so had to get it right the first time”.  Monique “was critical of the word behaviour as I knew it ran the risk of excluding (not intentionally) colleagues from disciplines such as sociology. …I was keen that we included many levels of analysis (individual, social groups, communities, culture), not just the individual”. Wendy recalls “I was asked – and happy to explain – what “behavioural nutrition” was, in particular…. Helping researchers and practitionners grasp that nutrition is founded on behaviour was novel at the time”.

The first meeting: 

To our enormous gratitude and appreciation, Deborah Bowen, PhD, then at U Wash and the Hutch in Seattle, agreed to manage the first meeting financed and run in large part by the free labor of her graduate students. We were hoping (praying?) for 100 people to attend, and had 187 register (as per the registration list). Participants came heavily from the US, but also from many other countries.
 

First Meeting of ISBNPA, Seattle: numbers of participants by country

USA

164

 

Mexico

1

Canada

9

 

Hong Kong

1

The Netherlands

2

 

France

3

United Kingdom

7

 

Norway

1

Sweden

1

   
Some of the luminaries in the field at the time attended, and many others were to go on and become important in their own right. We were not prescient and so we don’t have a copy of the program, and cannot report specifically what happened.
 
What were your expectations/concerns for the first meeting? What do you remember about what happened at the first meeting? What were your responses/thoughts after the meeting?
 
The group unanimously hoped the first meeting would attract enough people to be deemed a success.  Ron recalls “I thought we’d be lucky to get 50 people …. And so was incredibly happy to see how many actually attended. It was a wonderful meeting and a sense that the work that went into developing the concept and implementing a new international organization paid off. It was also a chance to see how well our initial executive organizaing group had gelled – just an exceptionally collegial and talented group.”  Theresa recalls hoping “that it would generate more robust and effective behavioural interventions.” Gaston “was pleased with the first meeting. Several interesting key players were attending …and it offered the opportunities to know a little better the executive of the new ISBNPA. Overall I was sufficiently satisfied and accepted the challenge of organizing the second meeting to be held in Quebec City.”  Monique, who chaired the abstract reviews for the 1st meeting said “having overseen the abstract review process and personally emailing all presenters I was very excited to meet the researchers. Managing all the abstract submissions and reviewing was quite a task for a novice like me. Little did I realize how much the job would grow in the years ahead. It was great to be in Seattle and Deb Bowen and her team had a wonderful energy.” Wendy remembered “the first meeting of all of us as an executive committee, and leading our strategic planning meeting. The first conference was heavily focused on nutrition and so we wanted to make sure it grew to include an equal representation of physical activity”.
 

The 2nd Meeting

 242 speakers and attendees registered for the second meeting in Quebec City, under Gaston’s leadership.
 
What were your expectations/concerns for the second meeting? What do you remember about what happened at the second meeting? What was your response/thoughts after the second meeting?
 
Gaston Godin, PhD: At the beginning, the planning of the meeting went very well. I hired a local company  (AGORA communication) to do the main work regarding planning and organization of the conference. I also decided to hold the conference at one of the downtown hotels in Quebec City. (I had good experience with them since I had previously organized both Canadian and a few of the Province of Quebec meetings on AIDS. This was an area of research I was heavily involved at that time.)
 
The early registration fee for members of the ISBNPA had been set at 330 US dollars (180 US $ for the conference fee + 150 US $ for the renewal of the membership to ISBNPA). Late registration fee was increased to a total of 380 US $. Non-members attending only the conference were asked to pay 250 US $. 
Membership only was 150 US $.
Note: a discount of 50% was applied for students at all levels.
 
In total, 226 individuals participated at the conference (including 12 free registrations for invited speakers, local workers, etc.). Thus, 214 people paid and registered to the conference (regular: 103 early and 51 late registrations; students: 48 early and12 late registrations). 
 

 

Number of participants by country at ISBNPA second meeting in Quebec City

USA

106

 

Ireland

2

Canada

80

 

Hong Kong

1

The Netherlands

9

 

Denmark

1

Australia

8

 

France

1

United Kingdom

8

 

Norway

2

Singapore

3

 

Portugal

1

Sweden

2

 

Belgium

2 

There was also a pre-conference workshop offered (Assessment of physical activity and nutrition determinants in adolescents; Session Coordinator: Deanna M. Hoelscher, PhD, University of Texas, US).  (22 regular and 18 students participated). The cost for the workshop was 35 US $.
 
However, we faced two important inconveniences: 
1. SARS epidemic: when this epidemic emerged, we were getting closer to the onset of the scientific conference, and we began to receive a few cancellations among those who had registered. Even the USA government issued an advice not to travel to Canada!  Then, I began to be very worried about the outcome. Nonetheless, I decided to go ahead and not to cancel the meeting. If I had cancelled the meeting, the cost would have been horrible to me and the ISBNPA. 
2. Holding the conference in the middle of the Summer: I quickly realized that holding the conference in July (17-20 of July) was not an appropriate period for an international conference. Indeed, in Quebec everyone is basically in vacation and outside the city or the country at that time of the year including students. Therefore, no locals were registering to the conference. We had to rely almost exclusively on other Canadians (outside Quebec) and international scholars to obtain a sufficient number of attendees to cover all the costs. 
 
Fortunately, we were able to manage in spite of these situations and ended making, not a lot, but some money that was sent to ISBNPA (about 35,000 US $).
 
Ronald Kleinman, MD:  I recall strolling on the Plains of Abraham at the end of the first day of the meeting and thinking how beautiful the city of Quebec was.  And gratitude again for the impressive attendance and the scope and quality of the presentations.  And also everything that Gaston mentions in his response above….. .   And I wondered how I’d match all that had been done in the first 2 meetings when my turn came to host the meeting in Boston.
 
What was your response/thoughts after the second meeting?
 
After the success of the 2nd meeting, Ron recalled “gratitude again for the impressive attendance and the scope and quality of the presentations, and wondered how I’d match all that had been done in the first 2 meetings as my turn came to host the meeting in Boston”. Wayne remembered the success “but I panicked when it was decided the third meeting could be in Washington DC, and I would have to take the lead on organizing it”. David Crawford recalled “there was definitely a sense that the Society had real momentum. Lots of interesting sessions, it was hard to choose between.”  Monique noted the great energy, and the busy run up with all the abstracts that came together in a great program.  Wendy noted that, despite the SARS risk, the conference was very good “and the mix of attendees really started to move the interdisciplinary purpose of the conference forward”.
 

The 3rd Meeting 

The third meeting was under the Direction of Wayne Miller and held at the beautiful Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, DC. We dropped to only 182 registrants for the third meeting, but many leaders in this field attended. It is not clear why there was a drop in attendance, but perhaps it was too expensive or it was still during the summer vacation for many?
 

 

Number of ISBNPA participants by  country for third meeting in Washington, DC

USA

146

 

Australia

3

Canada

7

 

Hong Kong

2

The Netherlands

8

 

Ghana

1

Mexico

1

 

France

1

United Kingdom

6

 

Norway

4

Brazil

1

 

Portugal

1

  

 

Belgium

1

What do you remember about what happened at the third meeting?  
 
Wayne Miller, PhD: We had two professional organizations that helped with the meeting. The meeting was organized by a professional events manager, who we got for a cheap price, because of a connection.  We also had a graduate student from GWU, who I knew that used the event as a project for one of her capstone courses.  Thus, one professional and one semi-professional that helped put that program on.  
 
Don’t know how much we charged, but more than $100.  We wanted to keep prices down, but cover costs.  We wanted to undercut the costs of other professional meetings.
 
I was worried about everything going well.   
 
What were your response/thoughts after the third meeting?  
 
After the 3rd meeting, Wayne was pleased with the increase in international visitors “We did it, we have a viable international organization. We can do this.” Ron thought similarly “We had a real international organization that had a real chance of surviving long term”. Gaston recalled that we were discussing when to hold the conference to both attract the most scholars and also to be economical enough that we would have sufficient funding reserves in case any future conferences had to be cancelled.  Gaston’s concerns arose from the SARS scare affecting the 2nd conference, and of course the passage of time would show – decades later, that epidemics could result in cancelled conferences. ISBNPA withstood both these challenges.  Monique was pleased to be joined by Ilse De Bourdeaudhiuj from Ghent University as the abstract submissions grew.
 
In 2003 or so, there was a kerfuffle about why should ISBNPA be international when most of the leadership was from the US? What were your thoughts about this issue? Have they changed over time?
 
The group broadly agreed that an international Executive Committee was needed to be truly international.  David C recalls that he “felt strongly that if the Society was going to be truly international we needed the leadership, our thinking and the ways we worked to become more diverse and inclusive.  Initially the Society was very North American focused with the views of European, Australia and New Zealand researchers, as well as those from low and middle income countries not often represented.  That changed with the election of Executive Committee members from a broad range of countries and the conference moving beyond North America”. A bit later, Gaston became concerned that ISBNPA was controlled by a small group of countries, but the leadership of the association moved into the hands of other representatives, as it is today.  Monique observed that early on, international meant ‘not in North America’. We strove to alternate between in and outside of North America. Over time it has opened up, but there is still a need to increase representation of non-WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) research and researchers in our field.  Wendy noted that early on there were concerns of moving the conference to both maintain North American interest and to attract greater numbers from other countries. “After the plunge was taken, I think it was the Netherlands, it was clear this would be key to increasing diversity of members and attendees and membership took off after that”. 
 
 What are your memories about starting IJBNPA? 
 
Starting a journal to go with the society was another big decision.  It was much discussed as a journal would be expensive, and time consuming.  There were concerns about how to manage a journal that achieved the goals of the society. Although there was a mix of presentations at the conference, there was still emerging research combining behaviours.  Wayne remembers discussion about whether it would be a print or solely electronic journal, and how it would be presented to members.  We would have to create an editorial board as well as recruit editors. Gaston recalls being reluctant at first due to cost, but subsequently the journal was successful and created a lot of visibility for ISBNPA.  David Crawford proposed the first editor, Tony Worsley.  After that there was an open call for an editor resulting in Simone French and eventually co-editors Hans Brug and Bente Wold.
 
 What issues were key/memorable for you that I have seemingly glossed over?
 
An issue of significant discussion was the appropriate sources of funding for the work of the society – what/who were appropriate sponsors.  Ron recalls strong feelings about corporate support versus funding from foundations, governments, and dues. “I was pleased that we were able to come to an iterative consensus on this issue relatively early.”  Gaston similarly recalls these discussions, particularly in the early days when any support was welcome.  Wendy added that the consensus was achieved that support would not be accepted from corporations or organizations whose agendas might not support health, such as tobacco and alcohol.  The fundraising for the early conferences was site by site until a seed fund was in place with some stable contributors. 
 
Wayne recalled concern about the sustainability of the impact. “Eveyone was pulling in their connections and favours to make it happen. Everyone working together to make it happen, and coming to common ground. Yes a lot of debate and differences in opinion. But never lost sight of the vision and goal”.  
 
The frequency of conferences was also of initial concern.  Monique noted that “I wondered whether we had set ourselves an unrealistic challenge of holding yearly meetings.  Many other societies have meetings every 2 to 4 years. Over the years, I saw how the society benefited colleagues. The annual meetings ensured that early career colleagues had a forum to present their work, meet like-minded researchers from around the world. I did worry whether there would be enough step change in the field that would ensure people would want to come each year”.  As it turns out, the rapid growth in attendance ensured an exciting conference year after year. 

Sustainability of the Society

One of the early goals was to generate a safety-pot of money so that if something unexpected happened (e.g. having to cancel a meeting due an epidemic), we could withstand it and continue functioning. We needed to be fiscally conservative. Our amended tax return (certified by an accounting company) for  July 1, 2002 to June 30, 2003 indicated our total income was $54,382 (mostly from registration fees and memberships), of which we spent $14,374 , leaving $45,185 at the end of the year. Our certified income for July 1, 2003 to June 30, 2004 was $161,806 and expenses were $122,603 leaving $39,643, now with $84,828 in the safety-pot at the end of 2004. Our certified income for July 1, 2004 to June 30, 2005 was $171,677 and expenses were $56,762, leaving $114,915, now with $ 199,743 in the safety pot. (The income tax returns show it is a bit more complicated than that, but you get the idea.) Thus, by the end of the third meeting, a sufficient amount of money became available to see the organization through unexpected disasters.

 

Discussion

It is interesting how each of the original organizers attended to or remembered different aspects of the development of ISBNPA. No single coherent story line could capture this diversity, so we let each voice be heard. It is very clear that we each experience the same world in very different ways, leading to very different perceptions and memories. The same here! There were few records to document what happened, so we can’t be sure about the accuracy of these memories.

What happened with the original responders?

All the original responders to the solicitation for a new society have led distinguished careers, with several still active academics. 

 Tom Baranowski, PhD, was and remained Professor of Pediatrics with the Baylor College of Medicine (Houston) and affiliated with the USDA Childrens’ Nutrition Research Center. He was PI for several externally funded research projects concerning most recently serious games for behavior change and objective assessment of dietary intake. He was the original President of ISBNPA, awarded the ISBNPA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2024, and is currently Distinguished Emeritus Professor (from Baylor College of Medicine) where he remains involved advising on various research projects. 

Ronald Kleinman, MD, is a Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard  Medical School and a senior member of the faculty in Pediatrics at the Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston, MA).  He served as Chair of the Department of Pediatrics from 2007 to 2022, and served as the second President of ISBNPA in 2002. His research has focused on the development of the immune response of the gut, the effects of childhood hunger and food insufficiency on child development, health and well-being, and  infant and young child feeding practices. He most recently served as Vice-Chair of the 2020-2025 US Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. 

Theresa A. Nicklas, DrPH, was Professor of Pediatrics with the Baylor College of Medicine (Houston) and affiliated with the USDA Children’s Nutrition Research Center, and is currently Distinguished Emeritus Professor (from Baylor College of Medicine). Her research emphasized nutritional epidemiological aspects of energy expenditure, dietary and nutrient intakes of children and parents, and interventions for child dietary behavior change. 

Wayne Miller, PhD, was Associate Professor of Exercise Science at George Washington University (Washington, DC), then established the Center for Rural and Community Health at the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine (Lewisburg, WV). He then became Dean of the College of Science at Morehead State University (Morehead, KY), and is currently Provost and Acting President at Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences (Yakima, WA). His research emphasized behavioral aspects of physical activity and obesity.

Deborah Jane Bowen, PhD, was Professor of Behavioral Science at the University of Washington School of Medicine and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center (Seattle) when the Society was started. She moved to Texas Tech University (Lubbock, TX) and then Professor of Behavioral Science at Boston University, and returned to the University of Washington in 2014.  Much of her research focused on identifying and reducing health disparities in diverse populations, including disparities based on race, ethnicity, tribal status, gender, socioeconomic status, and sexual orientation. She became third President of ISBNPA and later President of the Society of Behavioral Medicine. Deborah passed away in 2022, a tremendous loss for the field. 

David Crawford, PhD, led the Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition and also the School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences at Deakin U (Melbourne, Australia) and is currently Deakin Distinguished Emeritus Professor (from Deakin U). His research focused on: the role of nutrition and physical activity in chronic disease prevention and management; development of behaviour change strategies to improve health; strategies to promote healthy eating and physical activity. In 2012 he was President of ISBNPA, while in 2019 he was awarded an Order of Australia (AM) for significant service to science, education and research in the field of public health nutrition. He retired in 2020 but remains active in mentoring early and mid-career researchers, and serves on an advisory committee for the Cancer Council Victoria.

Gaston Godin, PhD, was Professor of Community Health at the University of Laval (Quebec City, Canada) and is currently Emeritus Professor (from U Laval). He was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada as a senior researcher (2000-2005), and then holder of a Canada Research Chair on Behaviour and Health (2004-2011). He became the fourth President of ISBNPA in 2005. He was awarded the Emeritus Researcher prize for the year 2012 by The Quebec Population Health Research Network. His research program emphasized theory-based understanding of diet and physical activity and behavior.

Monique Raats, PhD, was Senior Research Fellow at the University of Surrey (Guildford, United Kingdom) at the time of the early days of ISBNPA, and was promoted to Professor in 2013. She is founding Co-Director of the University’s Institute for Sustainability, and directs the Food, Consumer Behaviour and Health (FCBH) Research Centre which conducts research on food-related behaviour and policy interventions (e.g. food labelling) to achieve sustainable and healthy lifestyles; social, policy and ethical issues relevant to the grand societal challenges (e.g. sustainability); the study of food systems from the perspective of significant actors and stakeholders within the system; and methodologically advancing the field of food consumer science through exploring novel sources of data and methods of data linking. Together with the University’s Department of Nutritional Sciences, FCBH was awarded the prestigious 2017/2018 Queen’s Anniversary Prize. 

Wendy Rodgers, PhD, was Associate Professor of Exercise Science at the University of Alberta (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada) at the time of the inception of ISBNPA. She progressed there to Provost and recently was named President, University of Prince Edward Island  (Charlottetown, U of PEI, Canada). Her research emphasized behavioral issues in regard to physical activity, including community based interventions.

Michael Sjostrom, MD, PhD, was Associate Professor of Public Health at the Karolinska Institute (Stockholm, Sweden). Michael participated in several large international studies, e.g. HELENA, AVENA, European Youth Study, and ABC, among others, which emphasized behavioral aspects of diet and physical activity. Michael passed away in 2015. Another tremendous loss to the field.

Conclusion

Several learnings can be gleaned from this brief history for professionals considering starting their own society. The early responders faced and overcame many challenges for which they were not initially prepared, but the motivation in the group moved everyone along. There were: a context of the common perception of a need for such a society; a committed leader who pushed through agendas to get the society started; a need for funding to pay for legal fees and other expenses which were primarily addressed by volunteer contributions; and each originator pulled in favors where possible and appropriate to make things happen. At the beginning a very conservative approach to financial management was necessary to build a safety-pot for possible disasters. More recent advances in communications technology would have made starting the society much easier. All the originators are very proud of having contributed to the development of an important professional society.